Mary Edwards

Senior Talk Show Producer, St. Louis Symphony Producer

August Jennewein

Mary Edwards came to St. Louis Public Radio in 1974, just after finishing her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has served the station in a number of capacities over the years, and is currently Senior Producer of St. Louis Public Radio’s local talk/call-in show, “St. Louis on the Air," and producer of the live Saturday night broadcasts of the St. Louis Symphony. Mary also teaches an undergraduate class in radio production at Webster University. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the flute, participating in various music activities at her church, and water skiing.

Ways to Connect

Host Don Marsh talks with Paula Bradshaw, an emergency room nurse from Carbondale. Bradshaw is the Green Party candidate for Illinois’ 12th Congressional. The race pits Paula Bradshaw against Republican Jason Plummer and Democrat Bill Enyart. One of the candidates will replace U.S. Representative Jerry Costello, who is retiring after 24 years in office.

The final debate between the three candidates is this Friday at 7:00 p.m. at O’Fallon Township High School.

Every other year, senior citizens compete in the National Senior Olympics. In Age of Champions, director Christopher Rufo shares the story of five athletes including sprinters, jumpers, and swimmers.

Host Don Marsh talks with Rufo and Bill Cannon, an 82-year-old swimmer from the St. Louis area who has earned more than 2,000 medals at the Senior Olympics. Age of Champions is set to make its debut on PBS in 2013.

Some of America’s newest voters in November will be people who were not born in this country but are newly naturalized citizens. Host Don Marsh talks with guests from the International Institute of St. Louis about the path to citizenship and with former students about the process.

Guests include:

Anita Barker, Vice-President and Director of Education at the International Institute of St. Louis

Elina Fernandez, naturalized citizen and former student at the International Institute

Dave Browning said incumbent Chris Koster has done a decent job “but is an unrepentant liberal.” He said Republican challenger Ed Martin doesn’t know what he’s doing. “I think the voters of Missouri need to have a chance to vote for someone who is conservative but not insane,” said Browning.

The path to victory is rarely easy for political candidates and it’s even more difficult for third party candidates. Host Don Marsh talks with Libertarian Jonathan Dine, candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri.

Show Highlights

“I think it’s possible to win this race if a few more Democrats and Republicans would come my way,”said Jonathan Dine.

Host Don Marsh talks with a panel of legal experts for our monthly legal roundtable. Among other things, they’ll talk about a Missouri drunk driving case making its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, an upcoming ballot proposal which would change the way judges are selected for the Missouri Supreme Court, and Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder suffering a setback in his attempt to derail President Obama’s health care law.

Clinical depression is called the world’s number one mental disorder and ranks only behind heart disease as the country’s most disabling condition. It is also dangerous because it can all too often lead to suicide. Andrew and Barbara Taylor and the Crawford Taylor Foundation have committed $20 million to Washington University to fund research on mental illness, with a sharp focus on depression.

Christopher O’Riley is recognized as a leading American pianist and is host of NPR’s “From the Top,” a program which showcases the best young musicians in the country. Host Steve Potter talks with O’Riley in advance of his performance with cellist Matt Haimovitz, who made his solo debut when he was just 13 years old, at the Edison Theatre at Washington University. The event, “Shuffle. Play.

This weekend science fiction and fantasy fans will gather at the Collinsville Gateway Center for the 36th ARCHON Science Fiction Convention. Host Steve Potter talks with acclaimed science fiction writer and author Joe Haldeman, who wrote “The Forever War,” which received the Nebula and Hugo Awards for the best science fiction novel of 1975. Steve also talks with St. Louis cryptologist and game developer Elonka Dunin and Byron Kerman, one of the organizers of the convention.

Two restaurants which offer Filipino food have opened within the last few weeks. Emilio Bombais is the owner of Café Manila, a seasonal food stand at the Kirkwood Farmers Market, has opened Manila Bistro in downtown Kirkwood. Ammie Maminta-McSwain along with her niece, Abby Hernandez, recently took over the Shell Corner Café in downtown St. Louis and offer Filipino food during the lunch hours.

The general election is less than one month away and candidates are making the final push for votes. Over the past 2,000 years, advances in technology have drastically changed the method of campaigning though, according to an ancient Roman text of campaign advice given to Marcus Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator, advice given then is just as applicable now.

Author and psychologist Steven Pinker argues that violence is on the decline. In, "The Better Angels of Our Nature,” Pinker says despite ongoing news about war, terrorism, and other crimes, violence is declining. Pinker also examines why people are pulled toward violence and debunks myths about violence.

Host Don Marsh talks with Steven Pinker about his book and thought provoking studies and analysis. Pinker spoke recently at the St. Louis County Library.

In April 2013, Clayton, Missouri will celebrate 100 years as a municipality. Host Don Marsh talks with author Mary Delach Leonard, who also writes for the St. Louis Beacon, about her new book, Clayton, Missouri: An Urban Story. Leonard traces the beginning of the community from a rural outpost to a progressive metropolitan hub. Mary Delach Leonard also highlights important city leaders who shaped Clayton and includes historic and contemporary photos of the community.

A recently released report shows there is a disparity in health care among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Missourians. The study by the Missouri Foundation for Health shows LGBT individuals have less access to health care and tend to be less healthy than the general population.

Host Don Marsh talks with Dr. David Ansell about his proposal to reform healthcare by fixing Medicare and providing it to all Americans. Dr. Ansell is the Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He is also the author of “County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital."

Physicians for a National Health Program in St. Louis are sponsoring talks by Dr. Ansell:

Childhood obesity is an epidemic which has tripled in the last three decades. Host Don Marsh talks with experts about the disease and ways to prevent it. Host Don Marsh talks with Amy Moore, a nutrition and dietetics instructor at Saint Louis University and Nancy Lieberman, President and Founder of GO! St. Louis.

Go! St. Louis is a local nonprofit organization which encourages individuals and families in the St. Louis region to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle year round.

Taking advantage of our community’s diversity can be a challenge. While people of different ethnicities, cultures, and ages are all around us we can often find ourselves on the outside looking in. Host Don Marsh talks with guests about ways non-profit and arts organizations can engage new and underserved communities and improve their diversity.

Radio personality Bob Fass revolutionized late night FM radio at WBAI in New York City in the 1960s. His free-form radio show according to John Anderson of Variety was “an icon of free-speech radio… his legacy, and his archives, are as epic as the medium gets.”

The Sheldon bills itself as the perfect place for music and art and the Sheldon Concert Hall has been called “The Carnegie Hall of the Midwest.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Sheldon which was named after Walter Sheldon, who founded the St. Louis branch of the Ethical Society. The building was designed by Louis C. Spiering, the architect of the 1904 World’s Fair.

Term limits are a controversial topic in Missouri and there are persuasive cases both for and against them. Currently, the Missouri constitution limits state senators to two four-year terms and state representatives to four two-year terms.

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney square off in Denver tonight in the first of their three scheduled televised debates. Host Don Marsh is joined by NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin to talk about the importance of debates to the election process and what viewers should be looking for. We’ll also talk with Ken about some political races and issues closer to home.

The economy is identified as the top concern and voting issue in this presidential election. There is, however, a strong and sometimes overriding religious subtext on such issues as abortion, contraception, and same sex marriage. In advance of an upcoming lecture at Fontbonne University on “Faithful Citizenship: A Forum on Religion and Public Life,” host Don Marsh talks with some of the panelists about the intersection of politics and religion, engaging in a broad discussion though approaching it from the Catholic perspective.

Less than one week ago East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced a list of new measures in an attempt to curb recent violence in the city. Among the new rules is a curfew for all youth after 10:00 p.m. A ban from wearing royal blue or bright red clothing was also in effect for all men though the Mayor has since backed down.

Host Don Marsh talks with multiple guests about the new measures which stem from a deadly weekend in which an 18 year old man was stabbed to death and three young men died after being shot in the parking lot of a local club.

Host Steve Potter talks with French guitarist Gaëlle Solal. Solal also performs live in our studio including a web only extra performance of Agua Y Vino . She was born in Marseilles, France, in 1978, and began playing the guitar at the age of six. Her St. Louis debut performance will include music from Spain, Turkey, Brazil and France. Solal performs Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. at the Ethical Society of St. Louis as part of the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society's series.

Host Steve Potter talks with Marjorie Cohn about her book on the art collection of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. The book is called Classic Modern: The Art Worlds of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. Pulitzer, Jr. carried on the family business in St. Louis but he also built one of the greatest private art collections of the 20th century.